The Borderlands Region

OSRIC_Borderlands

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Features

The borderlands is a vast plateau in the centre of a wide continent. The climate is Mediteranean to semi-arid, with hot, dry summers (an average of rain about five times all summer) and relatively wet variable winters. (There is snow, but rainfall prevents much accumulation).

Mountains

Dragonwall Mtns

Human legends tell of Rhestian heroes who fought the great Drake Glimmerscale in her mountain lair 1000 years ago. But Dwarves will insist the name of the Dragonwall was poetic only. Regardless, the Dwarves have never settled nor mined the Dragonwall range. Recent years have seen the Stinkbat and Crueltooth Goblin tribes raid down out of the mountains.

Ironshield Mtns

This spur of the Ironshield Mountains lead to the impassible range to the south, cutting this region off from the Southern Lands. Although the mountains are filled with dangers, the Ironshield Dwarves make their homes on the northern foothills of the range, and farm and herd in the hidden valleys behind their stout fortresses.

Scarlet Mtns

"Scarlet for the iron ore, scarlet for the blood we spilled...." Beware a Dwarven minstrel, for the funeral dirges for Lost Bvelzstaaft are long and seemingly without number. Just two centuries ago, many of the survivors are now Dwarven elders.

The northern reaches are inhospitable, but the southern slopes of the Scarlet Mountains are verdant, and home to several tea plantations that struggle with the arid climate.

History

1000 Years Ago The Dwarven lords of Bvelzstaavf raised their banners. In the lands under their watch between the Ironshields and the Scarlet Mountains human nomads settled.

700 Years Ago The first human city in the region grew on the shores of Lake Rhest. They soon controlled the river valleys. The sorcerer-priests of Rhest worshiped dark entities from the depths of the lake and their rule was neither kind nor just.

500 Years Ago Trade between the Western Kingdoms and the Eastern Empire passed through the valley, and the land-owners had grown rich. Weary of the yoke of their dark masters in Rhest, they began the Great Uprising.

History presumes they won, but it hardly matters for the dark gods of Lake Rhest drowned the city, the besieging armies and the sorcerer-priests.

200 Years Ago A great army of orcs swept south from the Endless Plains. Defeated on the shores of the Black River, they burned the castles of the north and shattered the gates of Kor Bvelzstaafz. Dwarven refugees flooded south, but their capital was left in ruin.

100 Years Ago Dynastic struggles in the valley left three noble families in power after they deposed the Duke. An uneasy alliance between the three houses remains to this day, and the Ducal Seat in Brindol remains empty.

50 Years Ago While the nobles and levies of the valley fought a bitter dozen year war against gnolls from the Golden Plains and hobgoblins from beyond the Thornwaste, merchants of the Western Kingdoms discovered a sailing route to the Eastern Empire. Year by year the caravans diminish in size and frequency.

Now… Once the prosperous centre of a rich trade route, the Borderlands now find themselves too far from either the Western Kingdoms or the Eastern Empire. There is a growing sense that these are the final years before the Borderlands are lost to the forces of darkness. But this land of lonely towers, ruined castles, and forgotten tombs is a ripe fruit for those with the courage and skill to seize it. Fortunes can be made, legends founded, and perhaps the darkness can be turned back along the way.